Hello everyone,
I started listening to the old pre-meds podcast about a week ago, and have gotten to episode 105. I’m addicted. This podcast has given me confidence to go after my dream of becoming a physician.
My desire to become a physician came gradually through life experiences starting when I was a very young child spending a lot of time in the University of Michigan’s Children’s Hospital with my older brother. Various experiences and classes throughout high school further sparked my interest in becoming a physician. However, at that age I did not have a realistic view of how my life was going to go. I thought I would be married and having kids by 25 years old. I am now 26 with no husband or kids (but I do have a serious boyfriend at least). In high school and throughout university, I thought it would be impossible to have children and be a doctor with medical school debt. Due to encouragement from family members, I defaulted on the idea of becoming a speech language pathologist, but my heart was never in it (hence the 3.4 GPA). I graduated with my BS in 2014, but did not continue onto my master’s degree (the minimum for SLP practice) until the fall of 2018. I knew I did not want to do SLP, so after I graduated, I taught English in South Korea through the EPIK program at 2 public middle schools. After a year, I came back and became a production mechanic for a jet engine manufacturer and advanced to being a digital radiography inspector after 3 months. From 2014 to 2018, my desire to go to medical school became stronger. I have many friends who are in medical school and residency, and watching their victories and struggles made it easier for me to picture myself in their position.
This past year I told my boyfriend (who is currently a DO internal medicine resident) that going to medical school was my dream. His reaction was very discouraging. He encouraged me to enroll in an SLP master’s program instead. So I applied to a MS SLP program last winter and was accepted. I enrolled in the program hoping that my desire to become a physician would melt away. However through my SLP classes and interprofessional education experiences, my dream to go to medical school is stronger than ever. I do not want to waste more time and money on SLP, when I know that I want to practice medicine. However, my boyfriend and family think it’s best for me to finish the program (graduating in December 2019 after 3 more semesters) before starting to work on prerequisite courses and extracurriculars. I would really like to start my journey now. I think that a formal post-bacc would be best for me, although I am open to doing a DIY post-bacc. My next semester is starting up in January, and it is so excruciating to keep doing this program when I know what I really want to do.
GPA:
Undergraduate BS in Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education (Pre-Speech language pathology) 3.4 GPA
One Semester of MS in Speech Language Pathology 3.6 GPA
Clinical experience:
A semester (4 months) of clinical practicum in a skilled nursing facility, which included evaluating and treating cognitive communication disorders (dementia/stroke/TBI) and dysphagia (Swallowing problems) through individual and group therapy.
During this semester I also evaluated and treated children in a Head Start pre-school program for language and articulation disorders and provided therapy over telepractice for a patient with multiple strokes and dementia, a client with fluency problems, and a teenager with an articulation disorder.
Here is my question:
Should I quit my master’s program in speech language pathology after one semester and start a post bacc?
If you read this whole post, you’re a champ. Thanks! I would appreciate any advice on my predicament.
(My pronouns are she/her/hers)